Summerall dies; NFL loses legend

FILE – In this Feb. 3, 2002, file photo, Fox broadcasters Pat Summerall, left, and John Madden stand in the booth at Louisiana Superdome before the NFL Super Bowl XXXVI football game in New Orleans. Fox Sports spokesman Dan Bell said Tuesday, April 16, 2013, that Summerall, the NFL player-turned-broadcaster whose deep, resonant voice called games for more than 40 years, has died at the age of 82. (AP Photo/Ric Feld, File)

By Stephen Hawkins
Associated Press

DALLAS — Pat Summerall was the calm alongside John Madden’s storm.

Over four decades, Summerall described some of the biggest games in America in his deep, resonant voice. Simple, spare, he delivered the details on 16 Super Bowls, the Masters and the U.S. Open tennis tournament with a simple, understated style that was the perfect complement for the “booms!” and “bangs!” of Madden, his football partner for the last half of the NFL player-turned-broadcaster’s career.

Summerall died Tuesday at age 82 of cardiac arrest, said University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center spokesman Jeff Carlton, speaking on behalf of Summerall’s wife, Cheri.

“Pat was my broadcasting partner for a long time, but more than that he was my friend for all of these years,” Madden said in a statement. “Pat Summerall is the voice of football and always will be.”

His final play-by-play words beside Madden were succinct, of course, as he called the game-ending field goal of the Super Bowl for Fox on Feb. 3, 2002, when New England beat St. Louis 20-17.

“It’s right down the pipe. Adam Vinatieri. No time on the clock. And the Patriots have won Super Bowl XXXVI. Unbelievable,” Summerall said.

Summerall played 10 NFL seasons from 1952 to 1961 with the Chicago Cardinals and New York Giants, but it was in his second career that he became a voice familiar to generations of sports fans, not only those of the NFL.

“Pat was a friend of nearly 40 years,” CBS Sports broadcaster Verne Lundquist said. “He was a master of restraint in his commentary, an example for all of us.”

When CBS lost its NFL deal after the 1993 season, Summerall switched to Fox to keep calling NFL games with Madden. Summerall had hoped to keep working with CBS for other events like the Masters, but network executives saw it otherwise. At the time, CBS Sports anchor Jim Nantz said he was “very saddened” that Summerall didn’t get to leave CBS under his own terms.

“Pat Summerall was a hero to me,” Nantz said. “I treasured the gift of friendship that I had with him. I was his understudy for 10 years. He could not have been more generous or kind to a young broadcaster.”

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